Hyperbole in football

Answer 1

Alex Ferguson may be no more devout than the average football manager but he could be forgiven a nightly supplication on behalf of the extraordinary teenaged talent for which next summer's transfer budget at Old Trafford has already been spent.=The Almighty might reasonably be implored by the Manchester United manager to spare Wayne Rooney the pitfalls of sudden and extravagant fame.==Let him resist the demon drink and keep his own liver, avoid being caught in flagrante delicto by the News of the Screws, be pictured wearing a skirt only if made an honorary colonel of the Black Watch, prefer a Fiat Multipla to a Ferrari, marry a girl whose singing is confined to shower or bath, have two sons called Gary and Kev and go prematurely bald.==Rooney's introductory hat-trick for United in their 6-2 victory against Fenerbahce in the Champions League on Tuesday confirmed the awesome potential that persuaded Ferguson to pay Everton £27m for an 18-year-old forward with an unspectacular scoring record. Compare Rooney's 15 goals in 67 league appearances for Everton with the 15 scored in 21 games for Birmingham City by the 16-year-old Trevor Francis in his first season at St Andrews.==Like Francis there is much more to Rooney's game than mere goals. His sense of timing, his judgment of an angle and the moment when to provide or gather a pass would be uncanny in a footballer 10 years his senior. He carries a clear mental picture of a game that enables him to make the right decisions most of the time.==Football has speeded up considerably since Francis began his league career 34 years ago and not only on the field. Francis spent nine years at Birmingham before Brian Clough took him to Nottingham Forest as Britain's first million-pound signing. It has taken Rooney only two seasons to fetch that sum times 27.==Yet so far all he has been able to provide are a series of trailers. The big picture has yet to go into production.==Two seasons ago a last-minute winner at Goodison, struck with the now-familiar nerveless aplomb, ended Arsenal's nine-match unbeaten start and announced Rooney's presence to the game at large. An assured first full appearance for England against Turkey in a European Championship qualifier, when his ability to take on defenders added an extra dimension to Sven-Goran Eriksson's side, established his international credentials.==His importance to England was confirmed at Euro 2004 not only by his two goals against Croatia but by the way the team subsided after he had suffered a broken metatarsal against Portugal in the quarter-finals. Now he is back with a hat-trick to the accompaniment of even louder laudation.==Such praise is not misplaced. Rooney's goals against Fenerbahce were dispatched with the matter-of-fact air of one who expects to score instead of merely hoping. Even so, to claim that he is the best English prospect ever is surely a mite premature. Similar claims were no doubt made about the young Stanley Matthews in the 30s and Johnny Haynes was declared the brightest new star in the English football firmament when he was still playing schoolboy internationals.==The teenaged Francis was going to win future World Cups for England but so far only Paul Gascoigne, in Italia 90, has seriously looked capable of doing so. Francis's career became hag-ridden by recurring injuries, Gascoigne's by injuries and booze.==Before declaring Rooney the long-awaited answer to almost 40 years of international disappointment it would be wise to wait and see how his game develops as he moves into his 20s. In spite of his obvious body strength he may be plagued by stress injuries which footballers of Rooney's build tend to attract.==Frequent injuries can prematurely age players in footballing terms. At 24 Michael Owen, now a spare part with Real Madrid, does not have the exuberance he possessed at 18. Norman Whiteside, another teenaged wonder at Old Trafford, reached 21 looking like a man of 30.==If Rooney's worst injuries are behind him he may well justify, eventually, the latest outpourings of enthusiasm for his early mastery of the footballing arts. Certainly with Rooney back in the attack England should be better able to shake off their Portuguese hangover.==An important factor in the 18-year-old's favour, compared with Francis, George Best and other past prodigies, is that opponents cannot clobber him from behind or from the side, ball or no ball, without being cautioned or sent off.==Rooney's future is largely up to Rooney. Arsène Wenger feels he needs to lead the life of a monk. Before the manager arrived at Highbury the Arsenal squad often behaved like the roistering monks of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana but presumably he is talking about dedication rather than inebriation.==Rooney ain't no choirboy but there is a an air of level-headedness about him that is encouraging. He has been described as having a face like a clenched fist but that, too, may be an advantage. England and Manchester United need a world-class footballer, not another world-famous fashion plate.=